51¹ú²úÊÓƵ

The biggest international gathering on higher education ever took place in Paris last week. David Jobbins reports on how participants saw their role

Burton Clark, professor emeritus of education and sociology at the 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of California and Lydia Makhubu, vice-chancellor of the 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Swaziland, are among winners of the Comenius medal for contributions to higher education.

The awards, jointly sponsored by Unesco and the Czech government, also went to Cecilia Braslavsky, a senior official at the Argentine education ministry; Ladislav Cerych, director of the education policy centre at Charles 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ, Prague; Naguib Abu Haydar, professor of endocrinology at the American 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Beirut; Shaheen Attiqur Rahman, executive director of the Bunyad literacy community council of Pakistan; Rene Remond, vice-president of the French national commission for Unesco and Academie Francaise member; Ulrich Teichler, director of the centre on higher education and work at the 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Kassel; Prawase Wasi, professor emeritus of medicine at Siriraj hospital, Thailand; and the committee for the use of national languages, Mali. The medal, created in 1992, is awarded every two years.